Sports
Pillars Boss Happy With Draw
Kano Pillars coach Salisu Yusuf was pleased with both the endeavour and the result from his side’s opening day 1-1 draw at Kaduna United.
Ali Rabiu put the northern aristocrats in front before they were pegged back by Siman Yusuf’s mean volley into the roof of the net.
But Salisu was happy to come away with a point on the road
“I am happy with the draw. Normally every first game of the season is difficult, especially when it is an away match,” Salisu told the NPL’s official website.
“To pick a point in the first away match is no mean feat. We are surely going to improve on the performance.
“By the time we played up to three matches, the team would have picked up. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that we have the crop of players that will make us proud this season,” Salisu said.
Neighbours Kaduna United and Kano Pillars opened the 2010/2011 Nigeria Premier League season with an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Kaduna Township Stadium on Saturday.
Rabiu Ali volleyed Pillars in front after 28 minutes, and Siman Yusuf found parity for the hosts eight minutes before the interval.
A near full house in Kaduna witnessed the kickoff of a season which has suffered multiple postponements.
NPL chairman Davidson Owumi led a glittering cast of ex internationals, including Daniel Amokachi and Victor Ikpeba who witnessed the opening day of the season.
They were not to be disappointed by the passion and desire of the their successors, if not the quality of football.
Both sides had early chances to open the scoring, but Pillars looked the stronger side, and it was no surprise when they went in front.
Ali found himself on the end of an inch perfect ball from deep, and just had time to turn before lashing in on the half volley under Kaduna goalkeeper Richard Ochayi’s despairing dive to his bottom left hand corner.
Falling behind sparked the home side into life, and they laid siege to the visitors half.
Reward quickly followed endeavour. And it took barely eight minutes.
If Ali’s goal was of perfect quality to open the season, the leveler was even better. Sani Aruwa turned on a coin halfway into the Pillars half, and played an excellent ball into the right channel for Siman Yusuf.
Just like Ali before him, Yusuf allowed the ball to run in front of him, then unleashed a thunderbolt to the roof of Theophilus Afelokhai’s net.
Both sides could have added to their tally in the second period, but the profligacy that afflicts players in the domestic game continued, with Kaduna’s Jude Aneke the villain of the piece.
In the end, it finished with no further goals, and the biggest relief will be among the fans. At least, the season is finally underway.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor
